Newswise — CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia — 8 August 2014 — Through a University of Virginia business and education dual-degree program, three graduate students are exploring the use of entrepreneurship, analytics and technology to improve education during their summer internships.

Published reports have identified factors such as low access to quality education, poverty and shortages in education funding as barriers to providing America’s children with the best instruction possible.

Finding Solutions Abroad

Rafe Steinhauer put together a series of internships that have taken him to France, the Netherlands, Finland and Los Angeles. His goal is to explore two very closely related concepts: education entrepreneurship — starting organizations designed for teaching and learning and entrepreneurial education — the teaching and learning of how to start organizations.

"Not only is there a need for innovative organizations to help improve education," Steinhauer said, "there is also a need to identify effective ways to teach individuals how to start these kinds of organizations."

After completing a Darden leadership course in Normandy, France, Steinhauer spent time with some young entrepreneurs at Team Academy, a college in Amsterdam.

"Team Academy employs an innovative approach to developing young entrepreneurs," Steinhauer said. "Studying their model sparked my desire to learn more about how innovation can be taught and learned."

Before returning to the U.S., Steinhauer stopped in Helsinki to conduct research on Finnish schools, where in 2006, students ranked first in the world on standardized tests.

Steinhauer then began an internship in Los Angeles with Building Excellent Schools, an organization that develops urban school leaders and helps establish high-performing schools in America's poorest communities.

For Steinhauer, all of these experiences are the perfect mix.

"I wanted to connect my prior experiences in education and entrepreneurship by starting an academic organization, but I needed to hone my business skills and learn educational theory," he said. "I also wanted access to a community filled with knowledgeable people. The MBA/M.Ed. program was the perfect fit."

Helping Educators Find Meaning in Data

Fellow student Kat O'Neil is spending her summer in the San Francisco Bay area working as a graduate fellow at Education Pioneers, which she described as "an organization committed to developing a pipeline of leaders to address the achievement gap in the U.S. education system."

O'Neil is working with Oakland Unified School District's data and analytics team to determine the district's data needs and priorities.

She has also discovered the benefit of working directly with principals to understand their data needs.

"We work together, the principals and our team at Oakland Unified School District, to figure out how to help school leaders make better data-driven decisions," she said.

"Kat's project is a great example of the power of connecting business and education practices," said Catherine Brighton, an associate professor of education at the Curry School and program coordinator for the MBA/M.Ed. program. "School leaders across the country have increasingly greater access to huge sets of data. They may lack the training necessary to utilize that data in a way that can make meaningful improvements to their schools and school divisions."

O'Neil discovered the MBA/M.Ed. program after teaching in Washington, D.C., and Seoul, South Korea.

"I came to this degree program with an inspired passion to pursue a career in education specifically addressing inequity in the U.S. education system," O'Neil said. "In my work this summer, I am continually inspired and motivated by the individuals in Oakland working tirelessly to improve education for their students, which is by no means an easy task, but a critical one nonetheless."

Enhancing Education Through Technology

Gaines Johnson is helping to develop a long-term growth strategy for an education technology company that aims to create classroom assessment and teaching solutions for classrooms across the United States. His work at The Parthenon Group in Boston, will help him provide schools and students with the best possible products to actively engage pupils in their own learning.

"I have always believed that our country's education system would benefit from adopting best practices from the business world," Johnson said. "While the United States has continued to increase spending on education, and remains at the top in per-pupil spending, our country continues to fall behind in learning.

"I have a passion for education and believe that by combining business best practices with education acumen, our country can once again lead the world in student learning."

For Johnson, this combination includes helping companies create products that will improve student learning in classrooms and be profitable.

Johnson, O'Neil and Steinhauer will return to U.Va. this fall to complete their final semesters of study.

About the Darden School of BusinessThe University of Virginia Darden School of Business is one of the world's leading business schools, offering MBA, Ph.D. and Executive Education programs. The unique Darden experience combines the case study method, top-ranked faculty whose research advances global managerial practice and business education, and a tight-knit learning environment to develop responsible and complete leaders who are ready to make an impact.

About the Curry School of EducationThe University of Virginia Curry School of Education is ranked among the nation’s top 25 graduate schools of education. To its 1,860 students the school offers degree programs in education policy and research, preK-12 teaching, school leadership, school counseling, clinical and school psychology, health and physical education and other human services professions. The Curry School is a source of rigorous, yet practical, education research that supports both the quality of classroom teaching and the decision making of district, state and national leaders.